Burning Hearts, Cracked Minds
by Brawl499
Summary: In the wake of the IMC's vulnerable state after Demeter, the M-COR division of the Militia finds a new asset in the form of two IMC-deserting Pilots now acting as mercenaries. Coming on as full-form members of M-COR, the Militia was able to anticipate these new arrivals being deadly, but could anyone predict what them being mentally unstable lovers will entail?


Chapter 1: Three-Ring Circus

_Just off of an MCOR dropship, Freeport Outskirts….._

"Weren't we supposed to meet these guys at Smuggler's Cove?" An MCOR grunt asked the man he was escorting as the two of them and another M-COR grunt disembarked from their dropship.

"We were, but they changed it to here. Something about suspecting the IMC would've been in the area looking for them." Makoto Omura, the man being escorted, explained as they walked along the sandy beaches they were dropped off on. Despite wearing the lower half of a Pilot's Assault variant uniform, Makoto was not actually a Pilot, as indicated by his drab brown, patchwork hoodie jacket. He may be wearing a solid-armor vest underneath, but his importance to the MCOR still lay in recruiting and system management. Instead of a gun, a keyboard was his tool, being the sole technical supervisor of his entire division within M-COR.

"Oh, I see, a couple badass rebels then, huh?" The grunt inquired, falling back heavily on stereotypes.

"Actually…..no. They're ex-IMC Pilots, they dropped out in the confusion after Demeter fell. What tiny bits of information from their records that were still left say they weren't exactly outstanding fighters, but ex-IMC is still good qualification." Machete explained, drawing out his tablet from the messenger bag he always carried around.

"Files were locked down tight?" The grunt continued to prod, oddly curious.

"No, _this _happened:" Makoto said punctually, holding up the tablet for the grunt to see. On the screen were two personnel files, which were nigh-totally cleared. Their images were replaced with what looked to be a red, devil-horned smiley face on the man's profile while the woman's had an Anarchy symbol. Below that, notable information like height, training qualifications, previous postings, record infractions, or Titan type were replaced with slanderous phrases ranging from the vague to the extremely profane. One of the only things remaining in either profile was notes from psychiatric evaluations, which notably suggested the possibility of Aeryn Sylvester, the female, possessing PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder, while Madoc Mcvyron, the male, had Brief Psychotic Disorder. One thing they had in common was the presence of Separation Anxiety Disorder, which might explain their strict policy against working alone. "If I had to guess, they probably did it to cover their tracks when they bailed."

"Ok, so they're clever. Let's see if we can find them." The grunt chuckled as they stepped onto a wooden ramp, entering into a large, straw-roofed wooden building. Pushing through the wooden doors, Makoto's guards looked for more predictable options, such as groups of tattooed thugs, washed-up soldiers, anybody that looked gritty, serious, and at the end of their rope. Meanwhile, Makoto focused his attention on the only two people actually dressed in Pilot uniform present. Gesturing for his guards to follow, Makoto approached them with little fear.

"Oh come on, you think _this _three-ring circus is our guys? Look at 'em, they're an Amazonian and a dumb bastard whose uniform screams 'Shoot m-" One of Makoto's guards started to berate, gesturing to the Pilots in front of him. Standing 5'9", Madoc was wearing an IMC Assault Pilot uniform that had white armor plates, with a red uniform underneath and gold trim in some places, as well as a gold visor. Next to him, Aeryn was wearing a female IMC Sniper uniform that was painted a midnight black color, the lights on the visor glowing a dark purple color in tandem with purple tribal symbols wrapping over the arms, shoulders, and back. On the back of her hood, near the base, was a row of Japanese Kanji that translated to 'Vu~ishasusunēku', or Vicious Snake in English. True to the grunt's comment, she was oddly taller than Madoc, at a bizarre 6'1". Unlike Madoc, who seemed to move with scalpel-like precision, Aeryn's posture was slightly slouched and loose, indicating she probably relied more on blunt force and hitting enemies into or with objects for melee combat. Unfortunately for the grunt, his comment was interrupted by an abrupt lunge as Madoc got him by the throat, using his other hand to wrench the grunt's firing arm behind the poor sap's back.

"I'd say they seem quite qualified so far. You two Aeryn Sylvester and Madoc Mcvyron?" Makoto asked, trying to ignore the grunt's predicament since he knew what Madoc was trying to do:

_Play him into making an impulsive, stupid move to help his colleague. And it wasn't going to work._

"Yeah, that's us. Of course, if your friend here still wants to think we should be standing on our heads juggling balls just because we wanted to vandalize some IMC property, then maybe it's up for debate." Aeryn replied with a sting of sarcasm, wanting a chance to strike the grunt in the throat herself.

"Well, I promise you won't be dealing with him very much. Maybe let's take a seat and discuss this properly instead of wasting precious time shooting glares?" Makoto offered, gesturing to an empty table. Humoring him, Madoc let go of the squirming grunt, him and Aeryn moving to take a seat at the rickety wooden table in question. "Good, now for the important part: M-COR needs more Pilots after the losses at Demeter, so we don't want to just hire your services: We want to induct you into M-COR itself."

"Do we get private living space free of video surveillance?" Madoc quickly inquired, getting right to the point.

"I'll see to it personally that you get your own private rooms with the security cameras removed." Makoto immediately agreed, ready to play ball and match Madoc's demands. If he bagged two ex-IMC, it would not only increase their lethality, but give them an edge on knowledge of IMC infrastructure. If some sacrifices had to be made, it would be worth it so long as those sacrifices weren't lives.

"Do we get to keep our Titans?" Madoc questioned, slightly impressed but still trying to play the offensive here.

"We were fully ready to supply you with Titans, but if you have your own, all the better. We'll even handle restocking and repairs, as well as re-creating your Titans if they get destroyed. Custom paint-jobs won't be quick to replicate for a second Titan mid-deployment, but after a job's over we'll gladly re-paint a new one if you give us the details." Makoto assured, still feeling like he had this one in the bag. Madoc sinking back in his chair, Makoto could tell his offer was seeming quite appealing right about now.

"And who's going to be overseeing all this? I'm starting to like you a bit, but if someone like Clownsey over there's in charge of us, this deal isn't going to be anywhere near as pleasant." Madoc jabbed, gesturing to the grunt whose arm he nearly broke.

"I handle all the electronic networks and Titan deployment on my division's operations. There's an in-division psychiatrist you can talk to for personal assistance if you feel the need, but I'm the only person you're obliged to talk to. Honestly, if socializing with other members you don't like would bring down your efficiency, I fully support you two keeping to yourselves. In addition, as per your demands before even having this meeting, I promise now to never send one of you into battle without the other. Judging by the evidence you gave, it seems like your efficiency drops immensely when not together." Makoto promised, remembering the emphasis they put on that demand.

"Last thing: If the IMC put out a reward on our heads, none of you MCOR people had better rat us out for the money or else we'll see to it personally that your entire division is burned to the ground. We clear?" Aeryn interjected, having been otherwise silent up till now. Delivering her threat with a cold-hearted, calm sense of promise, the inability to see her face made the threat come off as even more chilling, almost as if she had a metaphorical gun to point at the collective head of the M-COR in her pocket.

"You have my word, nobody within M-COR will turn you over. They'd sooner turn in a bullet to the IMC than a valuable ally." Makoto said with certainty, knowing that confidence would go a long way in proving to these two that he wasn't a weak-willed twig they could just snap on a whim.

"In that case, you have a deal. Are you guys based out on a planet or do you use a ship?" Madoc agreed, shaking hands with Makoto to seal the agreement.

"We've got a full-size cruiser in orbit of the planet, it's our great big moving home. We usually land it on various planets out of the way of IMC patrols to conserve fuel, but everything you'll be interested in will be on that ship." Makoto explained, getting up from his chair. "Are your Titans nearby? We'll need to have a ship come down to pick them up before we can depart from Freeport."

"Yeah, just outside. Come on, we'll be hitching a ride out with you if you don't mind." Madoc explained, getting up and turning to leave the building. Following behind, Aeryn, Makoto, and Makoto's guards all left the building, walking out onto the sandy beaches at the shore's edge as Aeryn and Madoc signaled for their Titans to come over. Being they mostly just moved from place to place on public freighters, they didn't have some ship in orbit to send their Titans down like the Militia or IMC did. Coming around a palm tree-coated rock arch, their Titans were equally as unique in design as they were. Much like its operators, Aeryn's Ogre-class Titan was painted black with purple symbols winding and twisting over its armored plates, a 40MM Cannon stored away on its lower back to be drawn when need be. Meanwhile, Madoc's Atlas-class Titan was more vibrant, with dull white external plating complimented by red-painted servos and pistons, the optical lights glowing a prominent gold color.

Unlike Aeryn's Titan, Madoc's Titan was carrying a far less commonly-issued Titan shotgun named the Constable D-33. Consisting of two long barrels atop a pump system like a more modern shotgun, the gun was fed ammo through a pair of round drum mags slanted at a diagonal angle, one on either side of the gun. Being connected by a joining piece that clicked into the bottom of the gun, its magazines were almost like an inward-slanted, stretched-out Beta C-Mag.

"That's…..interesting. Shouldn't be too hard to replicate with some time." Makoto complimented, having signaled for their dropship to come back down. Also sending out a request for a larger ship to come down and retrieve the Titans, Makoto couldn't help but smile at how things were possibly going to go upwards for M-COR with an ex-IMC asset.

_30 Minutes later, inside the M-COR ship Baron…._

"Alright, we'll get into things like the Titan bays later, but for now, the biggest person I want you to meet is Byron Bueller, our chief engineer in charge of managing Spectres. I make sure he stays on top of things, but in the end it's his expertise that keeps them running." Makoto directed, knowing that Madoc and Aeryn were most likely on the bottom end of the tank, as they had left the planet right around 6PM local time. Walking through the cable-strewn, dark green and brown metal halls of the ship, the entire thing looked like a ship under construction as he led them to the man in question. Not caring much for what Byron looked like, Madoc and Aeryn were more focused on what he seemed to be working on.

"Hey Makoto! Finally got the last of the kinks out with Nek and Dek's servos, something about the more complex AI systems was reading their inputs all funny." Byron greeted, in a great mood. Looking at what he was referring to, the two mercenaries saw a pair of brown-painted Militia Spectres standing at attention, armed with Hemlok BF-R rifles. Sewn into the vests that made up the majority of their chest were little name tags to identify the two from one another without vocal input.

"Oh, that's right: Byron's pet project here is a couple of Spectres that operate on self-contained, advanced AI networks. Actual sentient computers. We've had the tech for years, just it took a while to reverse-engineer a few from stolen IMC tech, they're really stuck-up about making sure that tech doesn't get widespread. We could've just used the stolen ones, but those pose too much of a virus risk or transmitting a GPS signal to the IMC if we put it in a Spectre." Makoto explained, the three watching as the two Spectres eased up, having been locked tight so Byron could calibrate their servos.

"Why are they called Nek and Dek?" Madoc inquired, finding the lack of a c in both names somewhat odd.

"I'll show you. Nek, Dek, show them how you got your name." Byron suggested, taking careful action to avoid coming off like it was an order. Looking at each other as if they'd be shooting small smiles, the two AI-Driven Spectres turned and advanced on a dummy mannequin dressed like an IMC grunt that Byron had set up. Moving as if with a pre-made plan, Nek closed in first, gripping the mannequin's neck with his left hand. Stepping off to the side, Nek made room as Dek came in fast, swinging his left forearm and clenched fist in top-first to strike the mannequin right between the eyes. Nek letting go at that precise moment of impact, the well-calculated machine that was this AI pair fluently dropped the dummy, most likely with what could be considered at least semi-lethal blunt force.

"Oh, I get it…..Nek &amp; Dek, like Neck and Deck without the C. Their name reflects what they do in that move." Madoc noted, finding the naming somewhat clever.

"Please, don't encourage him. Mr. Byron will look for any chance to indulge in his self-perceived wit." Nek warned, speaking up in a digital, yet somewhat unique voice compared to a typical Spectre.

"Does not handle puns very well though, as Im sure you'll soon find out living aboard this ship." Dek added on, his voice being different from both a normal Spectre's and Nek's. While Nek's sounded like a typical human's with a digital filter over it, Dek's was a bit deeper in tone with some extra flange to it on top of the expected digital filter.

"Alright, alright, can it you two or else I'll go back through and see if I left a personality glitch in there somewhere." Byron lightly mocked, trying to ward the two off from commenting further.

"It was nice getting to see you Byron. I'd stay around, but these two need to find out where their rooms are at." Makoto bid farewell, knowing that Nek and Dek's effective sentience gave the engineer quite a few problems sometimes. Walking off and following their guide where he led them next, the two mercenaries were starting to lighten up to the idea of committing to a faction.

Post-Chapter Note

Aside from a prominent statement about some of the characters, there's not much to say about this chapter. I mostly avoided depicting combat in this startup chapter in order to not shoehorn it in and make it feel rushed or awkward, since I knew I wanted a proper, talkative introduction to the lead characters (Who are in fact Aeryn and Madoc, Makoto's a sort of deuteragonist-ey side-character who will appear frequently), so that will come up in chapter 2. In addition, part of what I wanted to capitalize on with this story is the aspects I've had the most fun with in other stories of mine and practice scenes I've sent to a friend that aren't publicly available right now, which is mostly sentient AI characters, and those with some sort of mental instability or difference. Not quite fetal-positioned in the corner mumbling about voices, but still, running on a different set of controls than a normal person so to speak. I intend to come back to the concept of the mental afflictions both Aeryn and Madoc have, as well as show how it impacts their behavior as the story goes on, so any comments on that would be greatly appreciated.

Next up, and this is the big one, this story wasn't supposed to be started yet, I was going to do it after releasing a few chapters for other stories, but after learning of Monty Oum's death, I decided to fast-track it right to the front. Started at about 10PM, and I'm writing this at 4AM the next day because I wanted to ensure this chapter got out as soon as possible while his death is still relevant. Reason being, I put in a small homage to Monty to honor him. Take a look at Makoto's initials: Makoto Omura = M.O. Monty Oum = M.O.

I was initially just going to have a small mention such as the word Oum engraved on a Titan or something, but after more thought, I decided a persistent character bearing his initials and displaying similar behavioral traits to what fans have seen of him would be more in line with the things Oum has accomplished. Up until today the "Advisor Character" was a blank spot I couldn't fill when planning this story out, so I hope people approve of giving such a character the spot. While something like giving a random UNSC Army soldier in my Halo story a tag on his vest reading M. Oum would've been more predictable, I felt this would be more meaningful (Especially since the AH Crew, the specific part of RT I like most, loves Titanfall). Not going to bring it up again past this chapter-note to avoid boring readers or turning them off from the story, just felt the need to explain that. (PS, there's another character whose initials are an RT reference as part of the Oum homage, but that I'll leave to reader discovery).

Lastly, any comments on the Constable shotgun idea or other aspects of the two main characters would be greatly appreciated.

R.I.P. Monty Oum


End file.
